Thursday, 3 September 2015

India’s light combat helicopter completes crucial trials

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 4th Sept 15

Since April 13, 1984, when the first Indian
soldiers deployed along the Siachen Glacier, they have assaulted Pakistani
picquets and beaten back waves of attacks without any direct fire support from heavy
weapons. All they had was what they could carry on their backs.

Even whilst incredibly capturing the 21,153
feet high Qaid Post in May 1987, Param Vir Chakra winner, Naib Subedar Bana
Singh, had only indirect fire support from artillery guns many kilometres away.

This will soon change. Last week, for the
first time ever, an attack helicopter landed at a forward picquet in Siachen.
The indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), designed and built by Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), performed several such landings as a part of its “hot
and high” trials in Ladakh.

In “hot and high” conditions, a helicopter
operates in summertime temperatures at extreme altitudes of over 15,000 feet. In
these conditions, oxygen in the air is depleted not just by the altitude, but
also by the expansion of air due to high temperatures of 13-27 degrees
Centigrade. This combination of conditions taxes the helicopter’s engine to the
maximum.

In February, the LCH had surmounted
different challenges in “cold weather flight trials” in Ladakh. In those, the
LCH was “soaked” overnight in winter temperatures of minus 20 degrees
Centigrade, and then required to start up on internal batteries and get
airborne. Operating from a 15,000-feet-high helipad, the LCH reached altitudes
of over 21,000 feet.

In June, the helicopter then faced “hot
weather flight trials” around Jodhpur, soaking up desert temperatures of 40-50
degrees Centigrade, when the temperatures inside the cabin approach 60 degrees
Centigrade.

“The flight trials at Leh have established
hover performance and low speed handling characteristics of the helicopter
under extreme weather conditions at different altitudes (3200 to 4800 m).
During the trials, the helicopter and systems performed satisfactorily”, says T
Suvarna Raju, the HAL chief.

The LCH is specially built to operate above
20,000 feet. HAL and French engine-maker, Turbomeca specially designed an engine
called the Shakti for the LCH, which is optimised for extreme altitudes. This allows
the LCH to fire its direct weapons --- a rapid-firing turret gun, rockets and
missiles --- to support soldiers in battle at altitudes where the thin air does
not allow humans to carry heavy weaponry.

An impressed army has already committed to ordering
114 helicopters, and the air force another 65, as soon as the flight-test
programme is completed. This is being carried out by three LCH prototypes, the
newest of which underwent the recent trials.

“The performance and handling qualities of
the helicopter have been established for basic configuration (with electro-optical
pod, rocket launchers, turret gun and air-to-air missile launchers)… Furtherdevelopment activities are
under progress and the weapon firing trials are planned during in the middle of
2016”, says an HAL release.

The LCH has been engineered, ground-up, for
combat. It is heavily armoured to protect its two pilots from enemy fire, and
has a “stealthy” fuselage that is hard to detect with radar. A crash-resistant
landing gear enables pilots to survive even when the LCH impacts the ground at
10 metres/second. Its state-of-the-art, all-digital cockpit has systems that
enable pilots to fly and fight the LCH at night.

HAL has moved progressively in developing
the LCH. The flying platform evolved from the successful Dhruv Advanced Light
Helicopter (ALH), which has proved itself with the army and air force. The
Shakti engine powers both helicopters and they have similar main rotors, tail
rotors, and gearboxes.

The LCH is designed primarily for
high-altitude operations, but it is equally lethal on the mechanised
battlefield. In tank battles on the plains of Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu, the
LCH can destroy enemy tanks with the indigenous HELINA guided missiles at
ranges of up to 7 kilometres.

Besides its fleet of LCHs, India’s military
will also operate 22 Apache AH-64E attack helicopters, the purchase of which is
currently being negotiated. The Apache will replace the air force’s ageing
Russian Mi-35 helicopters.

11 comments:

About 25-30 years ago the British sold India Westland-30 helicopters that were essentially junk. If India did not buy, no foreign aid for India. Google search: Thatcher Rajiv Gandhi Westland

Today, we have our own Helicopters that are better than the junk they sent us. So at the max, we are 25 years "behind". This poor country with a per capita income less than 1/15th that of "Great" Britain.

If we did not build our own defence systems, we will continue to be held at gunpoint.

"The flying platform evolved from the successful Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH)" - After so many crashes of ALH in such short span of time I am not sure if this statement is valid. Ecuador is surely pissed off and now there is news that Army is also not happy. ALH is unable to fly over 5,000 meters and as a result Army has to revert back to Cheetah and Chetak for high altitude operations.

Any idea when these Helicopters will be inducted to the forces. When it comes to inducting them India's HAL will again delay the entire program. Hope the Army and IAF are pushing the HAL hard to make sure these machines are inducted at the earliest.

Import curb is a natural way of motivation for Indian scientist to be allowed to succeed. Otherwise the usual rant of foreign companies paying off commisions is keeping the country at Bay...and infact afraid of bully's like China or even a smaller tiny tot like Pakistan. Whose entire economy is a begging bowl towards china and others also has the guts to raise guns at us.

We should grow so big that others except China sud be scared to even suppory Pakistan. That solves one side of the problem. Than dealing singularly with China shouldn't be a big challenge in itself...it might be a difficult path but not an impossible one!

To be fair, Rajiv Gandhi was bullied into buying the choppers in spite of being against it. You forget how poor India was in the 80's and open to bullying. Things have certainly changed over the last 30 years.

The only thing this article truly proves is the confused defence procurement procedure. Here we see a good positive Indian product being still pegged with an imported product. This is because the Defence minister is too kind to the the tantrums of the IAF. The IAF are not such great experts after all because they do not see the larger picture of the nation. Any way the good point is that this is a morale boosting feather in the cap of HAL. I only hope they have the pride to complete all the deliveries without a production hitch. RWRDC HAL will have full order books for the next 5 years. What is the planned production rate??